Pearl Sulman

Pearl was best known for her miniature Pelargoniums which she showed across the country winning an astounding fifty-two RHS Gold Medals including seven awarded at the Chelsea Flower Show and the society’s Anthony Huxley Trophy for their pelargoniums at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2009. During the summer months Pearl and Brian spent all their time travelling across the country exhibiting at Flower Shows including Malvern, Harrogate, Gardeners World Live and of course Chelsea.Pearl was born into the Woollard family of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and her father Arthur was a well known and respected Nurseryman. Pearl and her husband Brian were later to take on his business.

Speaking to the Cambridge News, Brian Sulman said, 'We were both involved in horticulture all our working lives and even previous to that because Pearl was born and brought up on her father’s nursery, so we both have had a constant love of gardening and horticulture.'

'I think it was the love of beautiful flowers and the fact that when you sow seeds or take cuttings, you never know whether they are going to grow or not, and the joy you get when they do get to flower.'

At their peak, the couple, from Mildenhall, did about 30 shows a year. They did their last in 2010 before selling the last of their stock last July.

Mr Sulman said his wife was special and had been well-known in Mildenhall. The support from across the community had been fantastic, he said.

Cards and telephone calls have also been pouring in from fellow flower show exhibitors.